Tablets to Make Up Half of 2014 PC Market

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- The market watcher Canalys predicted in a report issued Tuesday that tablets will make up half the PC market in 2014.

The research firm said tablets make up 50% of shipments in the total client PC market, which includes desktops, notebooks, and tablets. It expects 285 million tablets to ship in 2014 and 396 million in 2017.

"Expect 2014 to bring a flurry of acquisitions, mergers, and failures as PC hardware vendors of all sizes struggle to maintain their desktop and notebook business while attempting to capitalize on a tablet market that will see great volumes driving limited value," Canalys said in a press release.

Worldwide, the client PC market grew 18% in the third quarter, with tablets accounting for 40% of shipments. Analysts have noted Apple's position as a top tablet vendor throughout the year with stable desktop and notebook business. Other vendors have seen shipments deteriorate, Canalys said.

"Apple's decline in PC market share is unavoidable when considering its business model. Samsung narrowly took the lead in EMEA this quarter and Apple will lose its position to competitors in more markets in the future," Canalys senior analyst Tim Coulling said in the release. "However, Apple is one of the few companies making money from the tablet boom. Premium products attract high value consumers; for Apple, remaining highly profitable and driving revenue from its entire ecosystem is of greater importance than market share statistics."

Canalys forecasts that Microsoft will take 5% of the tablet market in 2014, versus 2% in 2012; the acquisition of Nokia's device business is expected to boost marketshare.

The quarterly forecast also shows Android-derived operating systems driving the market; Canalys expects them to account for 185 million shipments, or 65% of the market, in 2014. Samsung accounted for 27% of Android tablet shipments in the third quarter.

Still, James Wang, an analyst in Shanghai, said in the Canalys release that major companies such as Samsung and Apple will face stiff competition in the coming year. "Vendors such as Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo have all entered the price war, with entry-level products at sub-$150 price points. With vastly different cost structures these vendors will continue to find it extremely challenging to keep pace with local competitors, especially in APAC and Latin America."

Sounds great, except that when I design I have a bunch of written documents spread out for immediate reference, and usually a prototype hooked up to a 'sillyscope, all within easy visual range. I guess I'll just spread those all over the bed and hope the cat doesn't jump up and start playing.

Back in the days when the IBM PC was "entry level" and not good for much other than playing Funeral March of a Marionette over a tinny speaker, software and hardware engineers used expensive workstations from Sun and Apollo to do serious work. By the 1990s, consumer PCs became powerful enough wipe out the more expensive workstations. Now, as consumer applications move to phones and tablets, the remaining function for a PC is to be a workstation. Perhaps it's time to resurrect that word.

You can still have that from a handheld device, Victor (not-an-iPad if you want :-) ) with the proper accessories (keyboard, wall projector etc.) Imagine designing a circuit lying down on your bed watching a projection on the ceiling, with a portable keypad? :-)

@KB3001, "the word PC will become defunct". When it comes to PCB design, FPGAs and SW compiling I still prefer to sit in front of my PC, 'torture' my keyboard typing as fast as I can and... smell and taste my cup of coffe. ;) Anyway, I enjoy playing brain teasers and puzzles with my little not-an-iPad tablet.

"Anyone I know who has used one has walked away disgusted" Well, you could consider at least one guy (me) who found good use for one of such tablets (not exactly bellow $150, but not as expensive as an iPad), the BQ Verne Plus (8GB) (http://www.bqreaders.com/productos/verne-plus.html). I use it for experimenting with OpenCV and Android programming in general, sometimes for reading and sometimes for playing puzzles. Now I own one BQ Edison (http://www.bqreaders.com/productos/edison.html).

I strongly agree with this report that tablets will make up half of 2014 PC market. I too, just like many others, have purchased tablet(s) and wonder how we have lived without it for months. It is lighter than a laptop and provide me with access to the Internet and my email with ease; and many other features. I still believe that Microsoft and Apple will continue to grow within this table market. The iPad is on top of the line because of so many applications available and the ipad is just simply solid product. The Windows Surface 2 is a well designed product and is very stable. It is one of the best steal on the market today with MS Office 2013 and Windows 8. I have purchased both the Apple iPad and the Windows Surface 2 and love both. Vendors such as Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo are creating wonderful table products. But the problem with these vendors is customer's confidence. These vendors have proven themselves very well in the area of desktop systems, but not very well in the area of the tablet. These vendor's prices are great compared to Apple and Microsoft, but people are willing to pay a higher price for a product produced by a company that they believe in. But 2014 will be an interesting year within the PC market.

I think sooner or later, we will have one single device to do everything: phone calls, social media, web browsing, multimedia, home appliance control, and even professional usage. The I/Os or UIs will have to evolve drastically however e.g. building walls could become screens with a standard accessory projector plugged into the device, voice controlled command will be the most reliable, standard keyboard accessory plug-ins for more professional use etc. With higher communication bandwidth, applications will be hosted on the cloud leading to lean mean client devices. The transition is slow, yes, but we are seeing the early signs. What we call hybrids today will evolve into what I describe above.